Search for Alternatives?
by slashburd
Summary: Written as a request for x.LittleFreak. When you've found 'the one' then sometimes it's just too hard to let go. M/M explicit slash, don't like, don't read, you have been warned! All reads and reviews appreciated as ever!


Walking quietly was difficult on the highly polished flooring. His boots seemed to tap louder than the stiletto heels the Divas wore and he took to creeping on the tips of his toes down the empty hallway. It wasn't as if anyone behind a closed door would be able to hear the footsteps but he didn't want to risk ruining the surprise.

Hearing a door creak open Teddy swiftly moved to hide himself behind a wide concrete pillar. Someone came out of the nearby room and he glimpsed at the name sheet on the door which confirmed it was his intended destination. He held his breath as the man paused to call back that he'd try not to be too long, making a wisecrack about what creative meetings could be like. The news brought a wide smile to Teddy's face that made his eyes crease at the corners. His plan was being assisted without him even needing to put much that effort in to it.

As soon as the hallway went quiet again he approached the door that had the name on that he was all too pleased to see and, after looking sideways, pressed the handle down softly to minimise the noise of the mechanism working. Part of him expected the door to be slammed back shut by the man inside or for his presence to be noticed straight away. Fortunately, as he peeked around the corner of the ajar door, he saw that the main part of the dressing room was empty. Noise was however coming from the attached private bathroom.

Steam crept over and under the saloon doors that divided the two rooms and Teddy took a moment to survey the room and pick his spot. It seemed that the training he'd done for his film role was coming in handy after all. He chose to stand at one side of the doorway in the ideal position to grab his target. He was thankful for the lack of mirrors in the room that might give away that he was even there and began his wait.

A little over five minutes passed as he endured snippets of different songs being sung in everything from baritone to falsetto, none completed to the end of the chorus or verse, fewer still even matching the right words to the right tune. It reminded him of some of the times they'd laughed together over the years and just how much he missed that. Finally the water shut off and he heard the curtain of the shower being pulled back. It was followed by the forced breathing and light grumbling noises of the towelling off process. He fought the urge to barge into the bathroom and take the towel in his own hands to dry every inch of the body he missed so much. Instead he stuck to his plan and kept his feet planted firmly where they were.

The noise of a wet towel hitting the floor woke his senses from their wayward and lewd thoughts long enough for him to tense his muscles and get ready for what he had to do. As one of the door sides was pulled back he gave the body coming through it a second to clear the wooden barrier and then grabbed it, one hand clamped around the gaping mouth and the other around the far side of the lithe body, his wrapped-around arm bracing the now struggling man close to him.

A muffled grumbling noise was all that managed to escape from under the palm of his hand and it made Teddy smile and loosen his grip slightly.

"So, sure you want me to let go?"

He made sure that the drawl of his voice was exaggerated which would make it clear to his hostage that there was nothing violent intended towards him. Teddy knew that as soon as it registered whose voice it was that things would be just fine. Right on cue the struggling stopped and he felt the mood change. Cautiously he moved his hand to allow the other man to speak, sure that it wouldn't be a cry for help that would be coming next.

"Hey, watch the face! Haven't you seen my promos lately?"

Cody used the nervous laughter to try and control the wobble in his voice, the fear and adrenaline of the way he'd been grabbed and restrained making him feel a bit shaky. As the muscles in his back started to relax his shoulders dropped, his body falling back into the warmth of the clothing that Teddy was wearing. Soft cotton brushed against his top half, the usual worn denim against the lower. What he'd never give away was that he knew it was Teddy by the lingering smell of aftershave on the wrist that had been pressed against his cheek moments before. It had always been the same fine brand, the same Tom Ford Black Violet that had intoxicated him all that time ago.

His first instinct was to turn around and face Teddy but he couldn't bring himself to do so. If he did then he'd have to break away and if he was being honest with himself that was the last thing he wanted to do. Cody knew that he should want to scream and play hell at his friend for pulling such a stupid rib but he couldn't. No matter how much he wanted to feel angry he had to face the fact that he was more than half glad that Teddy was around. That didn't however change the fact that they were through and he had moved on.

"Ted, you... you shouldn't be here. And especially not on me like this. What about Randy?"

"What about Randy? He's not here tonight. Heard he took a bad bump and got laid up. That about right?"

Cody felt the hand still firmly gripped around his body flex and the fingers splay out across his skin. He nodded and closed his eyes as Ted used his free hand to trace a single finger line down his bare side. The sensation was verging on sinful and he was haunted by Teddy's last words to him when they'd broken up; that they'd never truly be apart and that their connection was one that would last a lifetime no matter who or what got in the way. Cody shivered, the tingling across his skin waking up the small part of his brain that had wondered if what Teddy had said would hold true.

"He's not here but that doesn't make this right. We're over, you know that. I'm with-"

If Teddy was being honest with himself then he didn't really want to hear what was wrong with Randy, that Cody was still in a relationship with him or any of the other details that he might get foisted upon him if he let his ex-lover carry on speaking. It had seemed easier and far preferable to plant his lips on Cody's neck so that became his next move. He could feel that they were pressed against slightly damp skin, the faint trace of citrus shower gel contrasting with the thick and heavy smell of hair conditioner. Whilst he'd always been a widower to the bathroom the new gimmick seemed to be extending beyond the ring. He'd never known the lightly tanned skin to be so velvet soft and radiant, for the smells of lotions and potions to hang like a veil of vanity in the air around Cody.

Teddy didn't mind too much, his mind filled quickly with images of roll top baths and steamy showers, the rivulets of rinsed soap suds trickling down over hardened abs and beads of water clinging to biceps that were more rounded than the ones he'd often explored in the past. His boy was becoming a man and whether or not he had Randy to thank for that was immaterial. It had never been his idea or intention to split and at the back of this mind had always clung to the thought that one day Cody would see that he'd been seduced by glitter and gold, the trappings of glory and prestige making a base attraction seem like more than it was. The fire for Cody still burned deep within Teddy and had never gone out, not even in the year and a half they'd already been apart.

What Cody found strangest was the brush and bristle of the recently grown stubble and fluff that now defined the jaw that rested against his shoulder as the small kisses peppered his neck. It felt alien but he wanted more of it, not knowing if it was because it felt good or just felt different. Randy was always smooth shaven, even on his rest days. Teddy had always been the same and there ended his list of lovers that were genetically entitled to have beards.

Over the weeks he'd been catching up on Raw when he could, telling himself that it was to see Dustin but going to sleep on those nights thinking more than passing thoughts of how things used to be. It seemed that without him Teddy was moving on, changing who and what he was so that certain aspects were unrecognisable. Cody had nothing against Maryse but he didn't enjoy seeing her being so carefully handled and escorted by the man he'd grown up loving. Randy had caught him one night gripping the side of his neck while watching Ted with her on TV and assumed his boy was hurt, offering massages and heat rub to help out. In reality there was nothing wrong, Cody was just back in the Legacy days when he'd be the one helping Teddy backstage and vice versa, their arms entangled around each other and bodies pressed together.

Feeling teeth start to scrape his skin Cody knew he had to make a decision. He either stopped it dead and banished Teddy from his dressing room or let it continue in the hope it would make his mind up once and for all. It wasn't that he didn't love Randy, he was pretty convinced that he did. It was more a matter of if he loved Teddy more. That was something he'd been unable to answer. Sighing, he realised that he might never get to the bottom of that one without hurting one or all of them in the process.

Teddy heard the sigh and wanted to assume that it was because he was adding some heat and passion to his actions, kissing harder but biting softly, using the palm of his hand to rub Cody's side rather than just his fingertips. Something told him that he was pushing his luck as a friend and perhaps jeopardising their chances of ever getting back together but the need in him was too great to ignore. He'd not been able to roll into another bed as easily as it seemed Cody could. He'd had offers, in fact Miz and Morrison had been first in line when a reasonable period had passed.

One drunken night he'd got all intentions of spending the night with Miz and had gotten right to the hotel room door when he realised that it was a bad idea. If he wasn't looking for love then he wasn't looking for sex either. Those needs he could meet for himself on a brief review of his memory banks, full as they were with graphic images of Cody with his back arched in pleasure, his lips wide open and groaning coming from between them. The when and the where didn't matter be it plush hotel rooms or the simple stolen pleasures of the back seats of various tour buses. All of that saved him the hassle of explaining why he wasn't ready to get into anything serious or couldn't be bothered to engage in a string of one nighters.

"Ted... I can't... I really..."

Breaking contact with the skin for a moment Teddy shushed the words away, hopeful that his careful ministrations would ease the guilt and hang ups enough to let them get a taste of what they were and could be again given the chance.

"Codes, it's me. You can and well, we can. It can always be like this, feel like this if we want it to," Teddy slid his hand down over the rows of defined muscles and used it to loosen the casually knotted towel that barely covered Cody's modesty, rocking his hips back to allow it to fall to the floor. "We've always been good together and you've no idea how much I've missed this." Moving his hand lower Teddy found what he'd been seeking, the obstruction of the thick shaft of flesh that must've been making that towel tent obscenely. He rubbed the back of his fingers all the way down and back up again, letting them linger at the side of the smooth head.

This time Cody's sigh was driven through pleasure rather than any kind of emotional turmoil. It had been a while since he'd been touched so sensitively, the sex with Randy more hard and animalistic than sensual. In an ideal world he'd have both of them or someone with the desires and tastes of the two rolled into one in equal proportions but he knew how big an ask and a fantasy that was.

"Ted, you're not listening to me. I can't do this. Don't make this harder than it is already."

The snort of laughter that came down Teddy's nose blew a warm breeze across Cody's cooling skin. He hated the fact that he was laughing at such a bad, juvenile pun but it was part of who they were. Even if their bodies changed and careers diverged in different directions there was always the easy humour of their youth growing up together to fall back on. It was just a shame, Teddy thought, that their relationship had come to an end at all. Turning his hand around he let his palm slide back down the hard column, curling his fingers around it as it reached the bottom and squeezing until he could feel the rigid pattern of veins. Pushing his nose into the soft hair at the back of Cody's neck he breathed deeply as he pulled his hand up to the top and then slowly dragged it back down again, loving the way Cody was pushing his naked ass back into the straining denim that encased his crotch.

"I want you Codes, always have. Even if you don't wanna... y'know, go the whole way just let me do this. Gimme a little something to go away with, huh?"

With a wordless nod Cody assented to what Teddy was suggesting. The whispered words in the familiar lilt were too tempting and persuasive for him to ever consider giving any other answer. His senses were on high alert and his skin on fire; the wickedness of what they were doing combining into a heady cocktail with the physical thrill of being pushed against a wall and jerked off by a man who desired him absolutely. He pressed his palms flat against the wall and rocked his hips, pushing excruciatingly slowly into the deliberate strokes and then pulling back out of them until he could feel the slick tip of his hard cock sliding into Teddy's curled hand, the sensation reminding him of how they used to fool around in bed on their lazy and layover days.

"Teddy, please... don't... just don't stop."

"No intentions of stopping baby boy. Not until you're done, never until you're done."

Putting a slight twist into the motion would drive Cody even closer to the edge, that much Teddy did know. His hand was moving at a less than furious pace but it wasn't a sprint to the finish. If he was making do with scraps of time and attention that fell from the King's table then he would cherish every last moment as if it was the most precious one ever. Just before he closed his own eyes he'd seen Cody turn his face to one side, the glint of the overhead lighting catching and highlighting the brightest tone of a crystalline blue eye.

Almost simultaneously their heads dropped forward, Cody's forehead pressed against the painted wall and Teddy's temple firmly planted on the ridge of defined muscle that ran along the back of Cody's shoulder. The obvious sounds of low groaning, erratic breathing and the rubbing of cotton on cotton as Teddy worked his arm were the soundtrack to their encounter, the frequency of all three increasing the closer Cody got to his release.

It was all over the second Cody's body went rigid, the only movement that of his knees as they fought to keep him upright as he collapsed at the middle. His orgasm was intense and brought an immediate tiredness to his spent body. Once he was satisfied that there were no more convulsions to come and that the mess on the wall and floor had been mainly caught by the discarded towel he extricated himself from Teddy's grip and turned around, seeing for the first time the fuzz that now concealed the jawline he loved so much.

With a wink Teddy could do nothing more than shuffle himself a little closer and put his hands on Cody's hips just above the dents that few saw and even fewer were privileged enough to touch. He spent some time just looking at the flushed face before him; the full lips reddened, parted but still pouting. His curled up, lop sided grin was making his face ache and he leaned in for a kiss, getting almost there until a hand came into his line of sight, two of it's fingers pressed on his lips.

"Not the face, remember?"

The words were tinged with a faux cheerfulness. It didn't manage to hide the audible sadness of Cody's acceptance that if they kissed then it was in danger of turning into much, much more. It was electric between them but he didn't know if it was the situation that was making him yearn for them to go further against his sensible instincts. He didn't remember falling out of love with Ted, only falling into it with Randy and that made turning the kiss down all the more difficult.

"You do take this face thing seriously man. I got nothing to brag about these days," Teddy brought one of his hands up to his face and rubbed at the scruffy stubble. "They must want me to look like my old man!"

Laughing the tension out of their exchange was something Teddy felt obliged to do. He'd created it so he saw it as his responsibility to sort it out. Shaking his head he took one step back.

"Look, I'd better get out of here before your boy Drew comes back and catches me here. I..." Teddy stumbled over his words, trying to be careful with what he wanted to say. His self assured manner was always absent when it came to talking about how he felt. "I miss you and if things ever change, come see me or gimme a call, okay?"

Planting a kiss on his fingertips he pressed them to Cody's lips and watched the smile that formed behind them. It was a shy smile that Teddy wasn't ashamed to call pretty. Gone was the handsome man and back was the fine skinned, slim figured boy that he'd been living his dreams with for most of his formative years. Backing towards the door he didn't want to break eye contact but had to to leave the room. Given the choice he would've stayed there forever.

Once out of the door Teddy hurried down the corridor and away down the side hall towards the service yard he intended to cross to get back to the parking lot. He didn't want anyone to see him and pass on the message that he'd been to Smackdown. It would be worth the lie to his colleagues that he'd missed the exit from the freeway or had to change a tyre on his rental. It was a long, lonely drive ahead to get him to Ohio but the diversion had been worth it. All he could hope is that he'd always be Cody's plan B.

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**A/N: So, my first fic back after Nano :S I thought I'd forgotten how to write fics for a while there! Hope the request turned out okay!**


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